We left Trstenik and motor sailed to the Miljet National Park on the island of Miljet.
We navigated in and around a series of bays to a harbor that would have to be protected from any weather. By the time we got inside and anchored we could have imagined we were in a lake, completely surrounded by trees and hills and roads.

Along one side of the harbor was the town, Polače with a series of restaurants, bicycle vendors and the main road to the rest of the island. Polače is named after Palace, the Roman palace that sits in ruins on one side of the town, at the entryway to the park.

We took the dinghy in and walked a bit, got maps for hiking the next day through the park and picked a restaurant. We had Mother’s wild boar and lamb chops for dinner, and slept without any noise or movement at another perfect anchorage. Salad Days. I get a week of this every few years and it keeps me coming back, forgetting about the winds, the seas, the fear, the seasickness. I love/hate these salad days.

Next day we hiked over a hill about a mile to the two giant salt-water lakes Veliko and Malo Jezero (Large and Small Lake). The hike over was on dirt roads, fairly well marked and passed through the small town of Govedari. The Lakes stretch for about 4 kilometres and we rented bikes to ride around them. Right in the middle of the Large Lake there is a small island / islet Melita (Sveta Marija) with large building of former Benedictine monastery, erected there in 12th century. Of course, they are not really lakes, they are trapped seawater, so to ride around them is to ride to the far end of the entry channel and backtrack to the other side. We only rode one half and saved the second half for a run the next day.

I could have spent a week here, and in fact, I paid for one. The National Park collects a visitor fee and two days and a week are about the same price so we bought a week. I will miss those few extra days when the snow comes in Tahoe!